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Steady decline of water table in Punjab by G.S. Dhillon Punjab is passing through its worst ecological decline. Its water resources are under grave threat. Its rivers, canals, wetlands, ponds etc. are facing a big challenge from continuous exhaustion and contamination.
Don’t dilute RTI Act, please Profile Diversities — Delhi
Letter
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On
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A quintessential “operations” man and the Bhishma Pitamah of the Indian intelligence brass, Ajit Kumar Doval (IPS 1968 batch, Kerala cadre), is viewed as a national asset. A former Chief of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi conferred on him the Kirti Chakra. Mr Doyal spent years in Pakistan and is credited with breathtaking acts of espionage during his stay there. Incidentally, he was the Centre’s chief negotiator with hijackers of Indian Airlines IC 814 in Kandahar. In an interview to The Sunday Tribune, he maintains that Pakistan must dismantle its terrorist infrastructure at any cost. Excerpts: Q: What should India do to make Pakistan dismantle the terrorism infrastructure? A: Pakistan will have to do it and it is bound by international obligations including the UN resolutions 1373, 1455, etc. and bilateral commitments. India has to create compulsions for Pakistan to do it. It has to be forced to realise that this perceived low-cost option to achieve politico-strategic objectives is too costly. It involves putting a stop to recruitment and training, financing and equipping, communication facilities and demolishing collaborative networks of terrorist with gunrunners, underworld, currency counterfeiters, hawala operators, etc. It would also involve ISI dismantling its networks in Bangladesh, Nepal, Middle East etc created to assist terrorists. Q: Is India justified in postponing the Foreign Secretary level talks with Pakistan following the Mumbai serial blasts? Can the composite dialogue process with Pakistan and terrorism go side by side? A: Yes. The dialogue process cannot succeed as long as Pakistan’s mindset is routed in what President Musharraf reportedly said on July 15, 2003 to Gulf News that “we don’t trust the Indian Government. Before Kargil, Kashmir was a dead issue” and “another Kargil taking place depends on how the peace talks proceed.” If blood and terror or the threat of it, implicit or explicit, is the only argument that Pakistan has to bring to the negotiating table, the talks have no prospects. Q: What prevents India from using satellite imagery and other modern devices to nail down Pakistan’s lies? A: Jurisprudence of covert actions, as also its response, is not governed by the laws of evidence. Evidence, or lack of it, is only an argument used by the players to lend legitimacy to what they want to do or refrain from doing in their perceived self-interest. We do use high technology intelligence capability wherever needed. But satellite imageries can only show you some physical objects on the ground but it cannot connect it with the terrorists. We have much better evidence in the form of hundreds of Pakistanis and their associates arrested who have given graphic details of how they were recruited, trained, motivated, tasked and enabled to undertake terrorist actions. We have loads of terrorist documents and diaries to prove Pak involvement. Sharing of evidence like Dawood Ibrahim or Salahuddin’s Pakistani passports and identity cards, etc. may be good evidence in a court but not in the game of intelligence. The adversaries insist on evidence not for taking action, but to plug the gaps and bring about correctives. Q: War with Pakistan will have much less casualties than the number of people who have lost their lives or limbs due to Pakistan’s proxy war. Is this view cynical? A:
I find this view cynical to the extent that we are not living in the medieval age where wars were waged to kill people. Wars are fought to achieve well defined political or military objectives. Loss of lives is just a collateral damage. Pakistan’s nuclear status will not have a decisive bearing on India. However, like many other components, nuclear factor will also be an element that will have to be factored in. Q: What does Pakistan get out of this proxy war strategy which is out of sync with modern times? A:
Pakistani strategists are fully aware that terrorists cannot dismember or weaken India. It, however, looks at the proxy war as a low-cost and sustainable offence which can bleed India, against whom it harbours a compulsive hostility. It also feels that it commits a large body of Indian troops to internal security duties thereby narrowing the gap of force-level disparities between the two countries. Pakistan also assesses that it may lead to communal polarisation in India increasing its leverage amongst Indian Muslims. In the aftermath of the Afghan war, it also felt that so many trained jehadis and loose terrorist weapons floating around could be a source of serious internal instability and could best be directed towards India. Retarding India’s economic progress was also an objective. Pakistan has been proved wrong on all counts. India’s military preparedness is as high as ever, Indian Muslims hate Pakistan today more than ever before and India’s economic progress is for the world to see. Ironically, Pakistan today is much more internally unstable today because of the jehadi factor. Q: Is General Musharraf in total control of Pakistan? Is he no longer capable of reining in terrorist outfits? A: General Musharraf is in total control of Pakistan like any other army ruler in the past. However, the people’s hearts and minds may not be with him. Nevertheless, he and his army are capable of reining in terrorist outfits, given the will. Q: Will the Indo-US nuclear deal adversely impact India’s strategic programme? A:
It was a positive move. But the devil lies in the detail. The form it is taking now leaves much to be desired. The fine print is not conducive to our long term national interests.
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Office of Profit Bill
is repulsive Legality
apart, was the President of India justified in withholding his assent to the Bill that sought to protect about 46 sitting MPs holding offices of profit? The Bill has again been sent to the President for his assent — he can no longer refuse to sign it. President Gyani Zail Singh reportedly indefinitely delayed signing the controversial Postal Bill, until he demitted office. Consequently, that Bill did not become a law. The Constitution does not prescribe a time limit for the President to give his assent, but the highest constitutional functionary is expected to act within a reasonable timeframe. What else can he do to delay assenting to the Bill that he believes is anti-national? Can he refer it to the Supreme Court under Article 143? Can a reference be made without the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers? These are some of the questions that did not arise so far. But does this Bill deserve so much of attention? With respect, the President is rightly concerned. This Bill is indeed repulsive. Our Constitution mandates that a person shall be disqualified for being chosen as and for being a Member of a House of Parliament or of the state legislature, “if he holds any office of profit under the Government of India or the Government of any state other than an office declared by Parliament — or the legislature concerned — by law not to disqualify its holder”. Ostensibly, the Bill seeks to declare that 46 offices of profit would not disqualify their holders. The methodology adopted is to introduce a table listing 45 statutory and non-statutory bodies — a large number of them are from West Bengal and declares that their officers shall not be disqualified. What is the logic behind immunising these 45? Obviously, there are as many MPs who fear disqualification — a la Jaya Bachchan. There are no discernible features that are common to the 45 heterogeneous bodies, to justify grouping them together, except the fact that all of them have sitting MPs — of course belonging to the ruling coalition — as their heads or officers. The Haj Committee, the Wakf Board, many Boards or corporations ostensibly meant to develop different types or facets of industry have only one thing in common — they are all from West Bengal. The other protected entities also do not provide any clue to rule out rank arbitrariness. It would have been more honest if the table were to list the names of the MPs to be protected along with their offices; but the legal vice of violation of the equality clause of the Constitution would equally apply to either case. The justification provided in the “Statement of Objects and Reasons” under the signature of Union Law Minister H.R. Bharadwaj hides nothing. It says, among others, that there is a clear and present danger of over 40 MPs getting disqualified and the resulting by-elections would cause a lot of wasteful expenditure to the nation. What he did not say is that in the interregnum the precarious arithmetical equation that supports the government may go awry. Before leaving the table, one must be beware of its expanding — if this table is valid, 45 will grow — remember the Ninth Schedule to the Constitution, which initially protected a handful of agrarian reforms laws from attack on the ground of violating fundamental rights and eventually became a fortress for over 260 laws of all sorts. Unmistakably, the present Bill is a devious devise to kill the Article that envisages a salutary thought that our elected representatives should devote their full attention to the people they represent. Two other new clauses prove this point. They open up enormous employment opportunities to our elected representatives. The Prevention of Disqualification Act of 1959 as amended in 1993 introduced a Schedule that listed several bodies like Air India Corporation, State Trading Corporation and the like and many bodies under the state governments — only to emphasise that elected members cannot be inducted into these, even if they received no remuneration, but only compensatory allowance. The new law permits our MPs to take up any office in any of the corporations or bodies that are not listed in the 1993 Schedule. For example, Life Insurance Corporation, or the State Bank of India or nationalised banks are not specified in the schedule. So, MPs can be appointed chairmen of the innumerable lucrative public sector institutions that are not so far listed. The specific protection afforded to the UPA Chairperson is of no constitutional significance because it is a one-time measure. The protection given is to the appointee under the order of May 31, 2004 only. All these provisions are “deemed” to have come in to force from 1959 including the Haj committee constituted under the 2002 Act. The other offices created under recent laws are also deemed to have been included in the list of protected species right from 1959! Truly, a marvelous piece of law! Consequently, all pending complaints or election disputes pending in different courts are all to be decided in accordance with this retrospective law. Parliament is given the power to make laws protecting some offices from the wrath of ‘office of profit’ because there are some offices that can be held only by the elected members. Originally, there was no office of a leader of opposition. Hence that office was not specifically protected by the Constitution. But the founding fathers envisaged the possibility of creation of some offices to be manned exclusively by MPs or MLAs. Therefore, Parliament was given the power to make laws in this regard. Surely, the framers of the Constitution would never have suspected that someday, the power to keep our elected members away from the lure of profit would be used to promote their employment opportunities. The Constitution framers’ intention is clearly brought out by the exchange of thoughts between the President of the Constituent Assembly Dr Rajendra Prasad and Dr B.R. Ambedkar on May 19, 1949 when the draft Article 83 — the predecessor of Article 102 — was being discussed. It reads: “Mr President: There is one point which I would like the Drafting Committee to consider in this case. If we refer to clause (2) of this Article, there is no mention of Chairman or Vice-Chairman, Speaker or Deputy Speaker of the House of People. They also hold positions of profit. They are also paid officers. Dr B.R. Ambedkar: Not under the government. So they do not come under this. Mr President: That is all right.” The writer is Senior Advocate, Supreme Court
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Steady decline of water table in Punjab Punjab is passing through its worst ecological decline. Its water resources are under grave threat. Its rivers, canals, wetlands, ponds etc. are facing a big challenge from continuous exhaustion and contamination. The industrial effluents and the sewage in urban and rural areas are being injected untreated into the surface and sub-surface water resource systems. Pesticides used by the farmers are polluting surface water resources and shallow aquifer systems. Owing to over-pumping from groundwater resources, there is a severe water table decline. This is forcing farmers to switch over to submersible pumps in place of the old conventional centrifugal pumps at a huge cost. After the October 1995 rains, nearly the whole of Punjab (then called East Punjab) got waterlogged and the water table depth was about 5 ft. Punjab, then, installed an elaborate drainage system all over the affected areas under the dynamic leadership of Chief Minister Sardar Partap Singh Kairon. Each drain was carefully surveyed, investigated and built under the charge of a minister or deputy minister. The system was aimed to lower the water table to 14 to 15 ft. and sustain it at that level. The efforts proved successful. As the farmers worked hard for the Green Revolution, a system of privately owned, electrically operated shallow tubewell system went into operation. This affected the water table. By 1964, it got lowered to 15 ft depth. Today, in the whole state, it is below 50 ft. A recent study of the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) entitled, Dynamic Ground Water Resources of India-2005, found that the ground water in the east and north-east of India has not been mined much, but elsewhere it has been overexploited. The study stressed the need for a regulatory system as Punjab’s agriculture depends heavily on ground water or tubewells. The study says, the level of exploitation in Kapurthala and Jalandhar districts is 204 per cent and 254 per cent respectively. Farmers are facing an acute problem in Sangrur and Moga districts as the water table has dropped below 50 ft level. However, the CGWB feels that the deeper aquifers, being tapped by submersible pumps, would be able to sustain the heavy duty tubewells. Sadly, villages ponds, which were acting as rainwater harvesting structures, and source of recharge of the ground water table, have disappeared. Another major factor is the lack of a comprehensive policy to arrest the water table decline. The PSEB has recently stated that it would shortly release 40,000 more tubewell connections in the state. The Punjab government has so far failed to tackle the situation through suitable legislation. A Bill had been drafted, but the government did not introduce it in the State Assembly due to the forthcoming Assembly
elections. The writer is a former Chief Engineer (Irrigation) and Director (Research), Government of Punjab
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Don’t dilute RTI Act, please THE Union Cabinet’s approval of an amendment to the Right to Information Act, 2005, which debars the notings of bureaucrats and Cabinet notings from the domain of citizens requires to be considered with circumspection. It bears, in our view, some disturbing dimensions. The professed purpose that prompted the Cabinet to propel such a proposal, as conveyed by the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, is: “The amendment to the Right to Information Act, 2005, will remove the ambiguities and will make its provisions more effective and progressive.” There is, however, one small exception to it: the file notings on social and development issues would not come within the ambit of this amendment. Another revealed reason for the adoption of deviating amendment, albeit abstruse in character, is that it would provide protection to bureaucracy, because the government felt that giving access to file notings could be misused to target individual bureaucrats. There has been a strong and spontaneous reaction against this proposal. Seemingly, it tends to negate or even nullify the very objective of the Right to Information Act that had been hitherto hailed as one of the biggest achievements of the UPA Government. Ceased of this criticism, the Prime Minister sought to dispel doubts only the other day by contending that only “a small portion of file notings” would be exempt from disclosure, and that too would be considered in the light of the already stated exception clauses “like examination, assessment and evaluation for recruitment, disciplinary proceedings.” The clearly stated objective of the RTI Act is to confer the right on every citizen “to secure access to information under the control of public authorities in order to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority.” ‘Transparency’, literally means ‘the state or quality of being easy to see through.’ In functional terms, it implies an honest way of doing things that allows other people to know exactly what you are doing. Following somewhat in the same strain, ‘accountability’ refers to the position where people have the right to criticise you or ask you why something has happened. Thus, both the carefully chosen terms, connected with conjunction ‘and’, reinforce the objective of right to information. In a free, democratic republic, it would not suffice to say, as Mr Dasmunshi elucidated the stance of the proposed shift while announcing the Cabinet decision: “Decisions can be conveyed, not in terms of details about what the Under Secretary or Joint Secretary wrote or what the Secretary disapproved.” Such an approach, in our view, is not in consonance with the participatory system of government in which instrumentalities of the State are responsible to the electorate – the janata janardhan. The people have every right to know the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of the decision made, and not just ‘the decision’ — the end-result produced by the decision-making personnel. At the time of introducing the Act, it was visualised that at times, the revelation of information “in actual practice is likely to conflict with other public interests”, including “efficient operations of the government,” “optimum use of limited fiscal resources,” and “the preservation of confidentiality of sensitive information.” In this predicament, solution was sought by realising that “it is necessary to harmonise these conflicting interests while preserving the paramountcy of the democratic ideal.” To prompt ‘the paramountcy of democratic ideal’, public authorities are specifically obligated under the Act, even without being asked, to “publish all relevant facts while formulating important policies or announcing decisions which affect public,” and to “provide reasons for its administrative or quasi-judicial decisions to affected persons.” (Emphasis added). Against this obligation of the government, any person who desires to obtain information from the concerned public information officer, he or she is not required to give any reason for requesting the information or any personal details except those that may be necessary for contacting him or her. Such is the functional strategy for strengthening the right to information! Within a short span of just one year since the coming into force of the Act on June 21, 2005, why are we becoming impatient, that too, hypothetically, to dilute ‘the democratic ideal’ of our Republic? Do we want to revive the legacy of the colonial past that thrived on the Official Secrets Act of 1923? It is indeed true that in the course of working of the Act, it was anticipated that there might come to the fore a few conflict problems, especially relating to what falls within or without the ambit of exemption clauses. However, the mode of resolution of the same is provided on the basis of the doctrine of severability. Under Section 10 of the Act, for instance, where a request for access to information is rejected on the ground that it is in relation to information which is exempt from disclosure, then, notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, access may be provided to that part of the record which does not contain any information which is exempt from disclosure under this Act and which can reasonably be severed from any part that contains exempt information. Turning specifically to the issue of Cabinet notings, the Act already provides exemption from disclosure of information. The provisions of Section 8 of the Act, inter alia, provide that “cabinet papers including records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers, Secretaries and other officers” are exempt from disclosure of information. However, such an exemption is not a blanket one. It is subject to an important proviso: namely, that the decisions of Council of Ministers, the reasons threreof, and the material on the basis of which the decisions were taken shall be made public after the decision has been taken, and the matter is complete, or over, and provided further that those matters are not exempted under the specified sections of the Act. Justice is not only done but manifestly seen to be done. This is what the Supreme Court has reminded recently to the judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in the Sidhu Scam case. This precept is applicable even with greater intensity to the legislature and the executive in the parliamentary system of government. Any total or absolute exemption from disclosure of information without articulating the rationale thereof, as seems to be the slant of the proposed amendment, would simply be an anachronism. It is inimical to the democratic values that we hold so dear. It is doctrinaire and dogmatic, for it kills the individual’s instinctive sense of
justice. The writer is UGC Emeritus Fellow, Department of Laws, Panjab University, Chandigarh
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Profile According to the latest study by the Centre for Science and Environment, headed by Sunita, pesticides in Pepsi and Coca Cola are now “much higher”. She herself released the report, Soft Drinks: Hard Truth-II, claiming that the pesticide residue in soft drinks was 23 times the benchmark for bottled drinking water. It may be recalled that three years back the CSE had shocked the nation by bringing to light the presence of pesticides in Colas. Her campaign caught up and a Joint Parliamentary Committee was constituted to investigate the matter. The harsh truth came to the fore. The JPC too came to the conclusion that pesticides did exist in Colas. “We are back to say that nothing has changed. It has gone worse”, Sunita stresses. She initially started with mineral water. When the CSE took sample of the raw water that is used by soft drink companies, it found huge amount of pesticides in it. When a sample of the “so-called” treated water was taken, the pesticide content was the same. Around the same time, she was told to look into soft drinks also. That was how the Cola-Pepsi controversy began. So dedicated is Sunita to the causes dear to her heart, including water harvesting, that only last year the CSE was honoured with the prestigious Stockholm Water Prize. The King of Sweden, Carl Gustaf, presented this award to her. She built a new paradigm of water management, which uses the traditional wisdom of rainwater harvesting and advocated the role of communities in managing their local water systems. In its citation, the Nominating Committee lauded the CSE, under the leadership of Sunita, “for a successful recovery of old and generation of new knowledge on water management, community-based sustainable integrated resource management under gender equality, a courageous stand against undemocratic, top-down bureaucratic resource control, an efficient use of a free press, and an independent judiciary to meet these goals”. She was also conferred the Padma Sri award by the President in appreciation of her contribution to the growth of the environment movement. She had then said that to bring change, it sometimes becomes imperative to push the system to demand more. Sunita is only 43 years and people know her as a social activist and an environmentalist, but few are aware of the personal side of this relentless fighter. On her part, she shies away from talking about herself. She is one of four sisters who were brought up by their mother after their father died. The mother had tough time looking after the family business of handicraft export, besides nurturing four daughters. Having been educated at Delhi’s Modern School, Sunita confesses that her academic record was “bad”. Her rendezvous with environment activism began with the Chipko Movement in the late seventies. Started by Sunderlal Bahuguna, the villagers of Gharwal and Kumaon hills would cling to the trees to prevent their chopping off by the contractors and unscrupulous elements. Sunita took environment protection as her mission. In pursuance of this objective, she went to Ahmedabad to do research on wildlife and ecology. After having a brief stint at Bombay Natural History Society, she returned to Delhi and joined the Centre for Science and Environment. She began her tryst with the CSE by selling books. In her 22-year-long association with the CSE, she rose to the position of Director. The CSE has now a strength of 100 dedicated men and women. She also publishes the widely acclaimed environmental magazine, Down to Earth. Sunita introduces herself as a journalist and environmental activist. She believes in moving and shaking the system — be it the campaign for introduction of CNG in Delhi’s buses, checking out what, besides water, is packed in that bottle of mineral water people drink, or whipping up a storm over the hard facts behind the soft drinks. She has been quoted as saying “getting bureaucrats to see your point of view, without losing your patience, can really be tiring. But something has happened. CNG has happened to Delhi”. Sunita maintains a tight schedule and travels a lot. The happiest moments in her career were when she travelled throughout the country with a journalist and environmental activist, Anil Agarwal. He is also a founder member of the CSE. “That’s the time I saw the framework on which our country operates”, she often tells her friends.
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Diversities — Delhi
Letter WITH shots of dozens of women and children dying in last week’s Israeli bombing on Lebanese village Qana, one sits in sheer dismay. What is the point of having bodies like the United Nations which can just about send medical aid for the absolutely devastated survivors? What is the point of hosting the so-called international meets on customary-cum- humanitarian laws when there is not a shred of humanity hanging around? What is the point of hearing the lies of the so-called world leaders when they cannot even cry a halt to the war — a war which is perishing a civilisation, thousands of civilians and more, leaving a mark on the psyche of the survivors? Destruction is going on at maddening pace. Some months back, at the release of the volume on Customary international humanitarian law, I had heard International Committee of the Red Cross’ Vincent Nicod talk of the do’s and don’ts listed in the different religions and tribal clans. According to him, many of these laws can be traced to ancient cultures, where they were implemented long before the notion of humanitarian law treaties ever existed in the western world. Where are these laws in today’s changing world order? Why don’t we demand enforcement of these laws? What’s happening to us? Why are we sitting like dumb spectators? To quote Vincent Nicod, “What President Mandela once said of the ICRC can apply to international humanitarian law that you, in your different capacities, can help being implemented. It is not that much the good that you do which counts, it is the evil you prevent from happening”. “Who in the world is preventing this evil, in the form of this ongoing war? That region, anyway, has been witnessing an ongoing strife between the Israelis and Palestinians. It seems an unending saga of misery and more misery. As Palestinian envoys to India had on earlier occasions detailed out the very basics to it. The Palestinians are restricted to only 23 per cent of the total land that originally belonged to us. The rest has been occupied by Israelis. Six million Palestinians have been affected. The three million displaced Palestinians who live in refugee camps and the other three million who live in their own land but like slaves and not free citizens…we have been under occupation for more than fifty years…living like refugees in our own land…” There is chaos raging in that entire belt, but we continue to sit like mute spectators under the gaze of that lone super power. Crowds jostle to hear Khushwant For years, I have been covering events, functions, talks and discussions at the India International Centre. On August 1 evening, as I neared the road leading to the IIC, there was a complete traffic blockade with many parking their vehicles on the side of the road and walking in. I tried doing exactly that but even that became impossible with traffic zooming in. Anyway, after much confusion and battling as I finally reached inwards, the auditorium stood more than packed. This when there were 15 minutes to go for the scheduled take off for Khushwant Singh’s talk on Delhi and his father, who was one of the prime builders of New Delhi. With the crowds increasing, it was impossible to find a place to even stand near the entrance of this auditorium. One was left with no other option but to get squeezed right out of the auditorium. No, couldn’t get to hear him, although colleagues who heard him commented that, it was amazing and at 92 years he spoke non-stop for almost an hour. On August 15, Khushwant Singh turns 92 years. And August 31, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh will honour him with the coveted Punjab Ratna award. The earlier recipients of this award were Amrita Pritam and Yash Chopra. On August 16, the new edition of Khushwant’s book Train to Pakistan gets released here by the well known and respected Pakistani activist Asma Jehangir. I just hope that she does come back to New Delhi after the treatment meted out to her here earlier this week when her room and baggage were searched by the police at the guest house situated in the posh Sunder Nagar locality. A guest house where she was made to stay when she was in New Delhi to attend a meeting of the South Asian Institute of Human Rights. According to reports, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh apologised to her for the inconvenience caused to her during a police search. I wonder what would have happened if it was a lesser known activist or just a commoner, paying us a visit in these surcharged
times.
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Non-violence is the first article of my faith, it is also the last article of my creed. —Mahatma Gandhi Falsehood exhausts itself. Truth alone prevails ultimately. —Guru Nanak Without you, O God! everything is false. —Guru Nanak Though a king may be bountiful, it does not behave a loyal subject to ask favours forever. When the needs are satisfied, one should desist and not keep increasing the needs and demands. —The Mahabharata If you want the truth, I will tell you the truth. Friend, listen: the God whom I love is inside! —Kabir It is not strange that a man who loves himself engages in corrupt practices to please his body? If he really loved himself, he would try much harder to cleanse his soul. —The Buddha
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